Garment-stay.



F. L. 0. WADSWORTH.

GARMENT STAY. V

APPLICATJON FILED IULYIT; 1912- RENEW ED MN. 14, H6.

1,196,907, Patentedfispt 5,1916;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES v INVENTOR.

,F. L! O. WADSWORTH.

GARMENT STAY.

APPLICATION FILED JULYIZ. 1912. RENEWED 1AM. 34.1916.

1396,96? v PatentedSept. 5,1916.

2 SH LETS-SHEET Z.

WITNESSES:

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INVENTOR.

ATTO NEY. v

UNITED STATES PATENT ornifon.

FRANK L. 0. WADSWORTH, OF SEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO THE SPIRELLA COMPANY, OF MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, A

CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

GARMENT-STAY.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Application filed July 17, 1912, Serial No. 710,006. Renewed January 14,1916. Serial No. 72,180.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK L. O. WADS- WORTH,a resident of Sewickley, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsyl-.

Vania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Garment-Stays, ofwhich the following is a specification.

Thisinvention relates to the construction of stays or stiffeners forcorsets and other garments or wearing apparel, and particularly to thoseforms of stay which are formed of one, two or more wires bent orcoiledto form a flat spring having two series of curved loops or eyeslying at the edges of the stay and an intermediate series of transversecrossing portions connecting these loops or eyes.

The general objects of the invention are to provide a stay havinggreater stifiness as Well as greater resiliency than stays of the sameweight, as heretofore constructed; and also to provide a stayconstruction in whlch the resistance to bending in difierentdirections-can be widely varied without altering the general form: ofthe stay or the general arrangement of the edge loops and crossingportions. To accomplish these objects I construct. the stay body of wirehaving either a substantially triangular or a substantially. trapezoidalcross section and with the: successive crossing portions of the wirebody preferably twisted in opposite directionsabout the axis of thewire.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate plan viewsof different forms of: stay embodying the invention; Fig; 4 is acrosssection on the line H, Fig. 1;,Fig. 5'is a cross section on the line 55,Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a plan View of another formof stay; Fig. 7 is a crosssection. on the line 7-7, Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a plan view of another: formof stay; Fig. 9 isanedge; View thereof; Fig. 10 is a cross section onthe line 1010, Fig. 8; and Figs. 11, 12 and 13. are views correspondingrespectively to- Figs. 8,, 9' and 10, and representing: another: formof' stay. I

The-stay shown-in Fig. 1 is composed of a single wire 1, bentalternately back and for-th'to form two series of oppositely disposedloops or eyes 2 with the transverse portions or crossings3 substantiallynormal to-the longitudinal axis of the stay.

Fig. 2 shows another form of stay also formed from a Wire 1, bentalternately back and forth to form the two series of oppositely dlsposedloops or eyes 2, which are of bulbous or general pear shape so that theedges of adjacent loops or eyes overlap, as at 4, the crossings 3 inthis case being reversely bent or of general S-shape.

Fig. 3 shows still another form in which the stay is composed of twowires 1 and'l each bent alternately in opposite directions to form twoseries of oppositely disposed eyes 2, and in which the twowires areinterlaced in such a manner that the loops or eyes in one wire bridgethe spaces between the loops or eyes in the other wire, adjacent loopsor eyes in the stay structure overlapping, as shown.

Many other forms of stay can be formed to embody the invention, and thesame may be formed either of one wire or any plural number of wires.

The stays illustrated are all flat wire springs and preferably will beslightly concaved, that .is, the transverse portions or crossings 3 willbe slightly deflected out of the flat plane of the stay toward one side,as shown in Fig. 4. The effect of this is to give the stay a transversecurvature corresponding somewhat to the contour of the body, and alsorenders the stay stiffer.

The wire from which the stay is formed is of triangular or trapezoidalform'in cross section, either a triangle, as shown in Fig. 13, a square,as shown in Fig. 5, a parallelogram, as shown in Fig. 6, or a rhomb. orrhomboid, as shown in Fig. 10. The corners are rounded off so as not toleave sharpedges which would cut into the fabric of the garment. Withtriangular, square, rectangular, rhomboidal or other trapezoidal form ofwire, a Very considerablev portion of the metal is disposed at a greaterdistance from the neutral axis than is the case with round wire, andthis is of advantage in enabling the metal sections to better resistboth the bending and the. torsional stresses to which they are subjectedin edgewise and in flatwise bending. Thus in all of the staysillustrated edgewise fiexurez. e., flexure in the general plane of thestay bodyis taken care of by the transverse bending or flexure of theportions of the wire forming the edge loops or eyes, and the resistanceof these portions to such bending or flexure may be greatly increased byforming them with the longer axis of the wire section parallel to thegeneral plane of the stay, as shown particularly in Figs. 6 and 9, anarrangement only possible when the wire is of other than circular crosssection. In these stays flatwise flexures-z'. 6., flexure at rightangles to the general plane of the stay body-is taken care of largely,if not entirely, by the twisting or torsional action of the transverseportions or crossings, and here again the disposition of the metal at asgreat a distance as possible from the neutral axis of the section veryconsiderably increases the resistance of that section to torsional ortwisting stresses; This effect is most pronounced with the triangularform of Wire shown in Fig. 13, where the maximum amount of the metal isdisposed at a maximum distance from the axis of twist. The effectdiminishes as the number of s ides of the polvgon or cross sectionincreases. Preferably, wire is used in which the cross section is apolygon of not more than four sides.

To further increase the stiffness of the stay against stresses tendingto bending in one flatwise direction and also increase its resiliencyand its ability to resist the tendency to take a permanent set or bendwhen bent repeatedly to short radii of curvature, said wire may be givenan initial twist or torsional set in the fabrication thereof, andpreferably in the transverse portions or crossings 3, all of saidcrossings being initially twisted in the same direction, viewing thestay as a whole, as indicated by the arrows on Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Thiscan be readily effected in the fabrication of the stay in various ways,one manner being according to my application Serial No. 706,956, filedJuly 1, 1912. It is well known that after a wire or rod has been twistedin one direction beyond the elastic limit of the metal, its modulus ofelasticity is increased and its resiliency is correspondingly augmented.Under such circumstances it also resists stresses tending to furthertwist it in the same direction to a greater degree than it resists atendency to twist it in the opposite direction. Obviously, therefore, aflexure of the stay in the direction to twist the several crossings inthe same direction in which they are already twisted will meet withmaterially greater resistance than a flexure of the stay in the oppositedirection. Also, as stated above, this initial twist renders the staymuch more resilient when flexed in either direction and the stay willresist taking a permanent set much better than without such initialtwistor torsional set.

When. the wire is of a cross section having unequal dimensions, as inthe forms shown in Figs. 6 and 10, the wire is so twisted as to maintainthe longer dimension of the wire in the eyes or loops substantiallyparallel with the general plane of the stay body. This is illustrated inFig. 6, which shows a stay formed of wire having rectangular crosssection. In this form of stay the wire of each eye or loop 3 is soplaced as to have its longer dimension in the general plane of the staybody, and the intermediate crossings 3 are twisted through eithersubstantially 180 or a multiple thereof. In Fig. 8, where the wire is inthe form of a rhomb or rhomboid in cross section the wire is likewisetwisted in the crossing portions through either substantially 180 or amultiple thereof. In both of these stays it will be understood, however,that the wire in the successive crossing portions is twisted in oppositedirections with reference to the neutral axis of the stay wire, makingall the twists in the stay run in the same direction, as indicated bythe arrows.

The twist in the stay will be put in such direction as to give theincreased stifi'ness and resiliency when the stay is flexed with itsconcave side on the outside of the curve, so that the concavitysupplements the torsional set or twist. The stays are so placed in thegarment that the concave side thereof is inward or toward the body ofthe wearer, and as a consequence, the stay will most effectively takecare of the stresses to which garment stays are subjected in actual use.This enables the stay to be either formed of lighter wire than similarstays as heretofore constructed, or if formed of wire of the same crosssection or weight will produce a stay which is much stronger, stifferand more resilient than as heretofore constructed.

The use of wire of a triangular or trapezoidal cross section alsoenables me to increase the stiffness of the stay against edgewisefiexure by increasing the frictional resistance to the movement of theedge loops or eyes one over the other. For example, in the stay shown inFigs. 8, 9 and 10, the wire may be either a rhomb or rhomboid in crosssection and with the longer dimension of the wire substantially parallelwith the general plane of the stay body. Successive eyes or loops 2 inthis form of stay also overlap each other longitudinally of the staybody, as at 4, and, as shown in Fig. 9, this brings the inclined facesor surfaces 5 of the wire into fairly close juxtaposition and parallelwith each other. On edgewise flexure of the stay, the inclined side faceor surface on each loop or eye rides or slides up on the inclined faceor surface of the adjacent loop or eye. Thus each loop or eye ispinched, as it were, between the two adjacent loops or eyes on oppositesides thereof. Moreover, edgewise fiexure of the stay causes each loopor eye to be slightly tilted or rotated out of its normal inclinedposition with reference to the stay body, until it assumes substantiallythe position indicated in dotted line in Fig. 9. This move ment is, ofcourse, resisted by the torsional strength of the crossing portions 3.With a stay constructed as described edgewise flex ure of the stay is,therefore, resisted not only by the inherent resistance of the wire inthe eyes or loops to bending, but also by the torsional resistance ofthe wire in the crossing portions.

To obtain the same efiect when wire of triangular cross section is used,preferably, only every other crossing is twisted, as indicated in Fig.11. The adjacent fiat surfaces or faces of successive eyes or loops thenhave full bearing contact with and ride upon each other during edgewisefiexure of the stay, thus increasing its stiffness and resistance toedgewise fiexure, as described.

l/Vhat I claim is 1. A garment stay comprising a fiat wire springcomposed of wire of substantially polygonal cross section, the crosssectional dimension of the wire being greater in one direction than inanother, the wire being formed into a series of loops, said wire be ingplaced under an initial twist or torsional set running in the samedirection in corresponding parts of the stay, the wire of said eyes orloops having the longer cross sectional dimension in the plane of thestay.

2. A garment stay comprising a flat wire spring composed of wire ofsubstantially polygonal cross section, with not more than four sides,the cross sectional dimension of the wire being greater in one directionthan in another, the wire being bent back and forth into sinuous form toform a series of oppositely disposed loops and transverse connectingportions or crossings, the wire of said loops having the longer crosssectional dimension in the plane of the stay.

3. A garment stay comprising a flat wire spring composed of Wire ofsubstantially polygonal cross section, with not more than four sides,formed into oppositely disposed loops with transverse connectingportions or crossings, the said transverse portions or crossings beingunder initial twist or torsional set, the twist in all said crossingsrunning in the same direction.

4. A garment stay comprising a flat wire spring composed of wire ofsubstantially polygonal cross section, with not more than four sides,bent to form a series of oppositely disposed loops with the sides ofcontiguous loops overlapping.

5. A garment stay comprising a flat wire spring composed of wire ofsubstantially polygonal cross section, with not more than four sides,bent to form a series of oppositely disposed loops with the sides ofadjacent loops overlapping, the transverse portions or crossings beinginitially twisted, the twist in all of said crossings running in thesame direction.

6. A garment stay comprising a flat Wire spring composed of wire ofsubstantially polygonal cross section, with not more than four sides,bent to form a series of oppositely disposed loops joined by transverseportions or crossings which are initially twisted, said crossings beingdeflected sidewise out of their normal plane.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

FRANK L. O. WADSWORTH.

Witnesses:

ELBERT L. HYDE, MARY E. CAHOON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patento, Washington, D. C.

